Bottling: A landmark in the individual brewing process...

I can't really classify different steps in the process of making a home-brewed beer in terms of importance partly because I'm still very new to the process and partly because it just seems wrong.  But I can stress how satisfying it feels to have finally completed the bottling process.  Basically, once the beer is in the bottle, all the work is done.  This is of course unless you consider drinking the victory beer some weeks later to be work but I don't think many people would take that position.

The process of bottling, while it certainly is work, is fairly simple and straight forward compared to everything else up to this point.

You basically just need a rudimentary pump to get beer out of the carboys (giant glass bottles where the wort was fermenting into beer) and into individual bottles.  In HBK historically, we've used 22oz bottles and 750mL latch-top bottles.  Some people have their own "growlers" that they bring to be filled, which is basically just a 64oz latch top bottle.  The nice thing about growlers is that they 're huge.  So there's lots of beer all in one place.  The bad thing about them is that they're huge.  So all your beer is in one place.  You see what I mean?  Once you open that puppy you've committed to 64 oz.  of rich, scrumptious home brew that, in the HBK at least, tends to be pretty high gravity compared to the store bought stuff.  So it's good or bad... or both, depending on how you want to look at it.

Anyways, the latch tops are really nice in that they come with everything they need.  You just pump the beer into the bottle and latch it up when it's full. 

The 22oz bottles require new lids for each use but it's not a big deal. 

The only real concern during bottling is cleanliness.  Obviously you don't want to pour fresh beer into a filthy bottle.  The beer is still an ideal place for bacteria and competitor fungus to grow, so that's why it's so important to rinse your empties out with hot water before returning them to HBK for refill! (hint hint)
Beyond a good rinsing, we also rinse the bottles, caps our hands and all other equipment that may come in contact with the beer in an iodine solution.  This acts to sterilize the equipment by penetrating the cell wall of any bacteria or fungus and messing it's sh** all up.  So that's cool.